She amazes me. Lately she’s been helping Owen pick up toys when I ask him to do it. Or she’ll start picking up the pillows (part of his end-of-night chores) on her own. This is what happened tonight.
When I first ask her to put away toys, I’m guessing she takes the bin and sets it next to Owen because he has toys out and she knows they go in the bin. Then later she sees the brush…and puts it back exactly where I keep it.
They often play on the bear in Owen’s room, so he brought it downstairs tonight! Oh what fun they had!
Katie is there behind Owen. He’s got his face in hers. 🙂
Owen loves jumping into the bear. He usually says “To infinity and beyond!” (thanks to watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2 recently)! I caught him mid-jump!
It’s not really a party—it’s more like a post-afternoon-snack snack with treats like M&Ms, cheese balls, and candy canes with the parents standing off to the side watching the kids eat. It’s exactly how the Halloween party played out as well…but just not what I’d think a party would be. But then again, it is only Pre-K…maybe the parties get better. 🙂
Yep, jammies completely off and apparently working on the diaper! Owen never once did this. I have a feeling we may be turning her jammies backwards or putting her in a sleep sack (backwards)…
Working hard—her tongue is out. 🙂
Notice her muddy fingers. She likes to scoop up fallen pine needles and carry them around.
Here, have a leaf!
No I don’t get too terribly nervous about the four-foot drop.
She holds my hand but she’d probably try without it because SHE HAS NO FEAR.
It was jammie day today. These are one of the few hand-me-downs Katie has of Owen’s.
These are the best pics I have of him in them:
December 2010
Owen and I went to the movies this morning (Frozen!) with friends of ours that are moving next week—Ruth (the one who helped me put up the lights and tree) and her daughter! We’re really going to miss them… Owen did pretty well at the movie—it was a sensory-friendly version which I don’t think he really needs anymore, but it’s at least $3pp less so we do go once in awhile. I think with the lights up and the sound down, he is actually more fidgety and doesn’t get as involved. I know I don’t get as involved because I hear the constant murmuring of all the other kids that aren’t paying attention and talking and running about…
But anyway, after the movie, they came over for sushi lunch (well, the kids had pizza bagels!) and then we went outside. Ruth just happened to have a pink baby swing in her car that she was getting rid of, so we hung it up! (I actually had one I hadn’t put up yet, so I just traded her for the pink one!) Katie liked it. Not loved it, but liked it. For a few minutes. 🙂
Owen getting tackled! He LOVED every second of it and was having a ball. He kept saying “Emily! I’m over here! Come get me!”
Emily tackling and then Katie attacking Owen once he was down!
Then he wanted to play Candyland so we got it set up and just let them play while we were in the other room talking. It apparently went well and soon we heard Owen saying “Congratulations!” 🙂
She grabs tissues all the time. This is exactly what happens.
The Letter T I get, but Owen swears the other one was “shapes” — but I just don’t see it. 🙂
I thought I posted one of these already but I couldn’t find it, so I either didn’t tag it correctly or I forgot. 🙂 These were done with marbles. I’d love to see the mess of them being created.
This was another surprise mystery trip for Owen! I got a sitter for Katie so it was a mom and Owen only night!
The local autism society chapter sponsored a trip to the “Festival of Lights” hayride at Mike’s Farm (a local family-oriented business that includes hayrides, Christmas trees, pumpkin picking and a variety of other crops in addition to a home-cooking restaurant).
I knew Owen would love it (he’s always loved lights but this year he loves everything Christmas!) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity because it was a reserved trip and we wouldn’t have to wait in the always-horrendously-long lines.
Of course it started off a little annoying—there was supposed to be someone there with a sign for our group but we walked all over and there wasn’t (and I was only there 20 minutes early). I finally got in the line to get tickets and when I got to the front she said “Oh no you don’t need to pay here…you will pay as a group.” I asked where and she just says “Oh behind the barn.” Oooo-kay. So we walked around again and I finally just stopped and asked some people if there were there for the autism group—and they were. Phew! The lady with the sign finally showed up about 10 minutes before we were supposed to be leaving on our hayride. So, not great planning, but it all turned out okay.
Owen was excited just looking at all the tractors lined up…
On the bales of hay!
Then we started! They played Christmas music which I thought was a nice touch…and it came into play later (which I had been somewhat spoiled by reading the reviews beforehand) but I’ll get to that. Also, we obviously hadn’t been on this before, so the first five minutes were really boring and there were barely any lights and I was seriously thinking “I PAID FOR THIS?!” And then we rounded a corner…
A gingerbread house with gingerbread people—which really excited Owen because they have been dealing with gingerbread all week at school!
“Look! Mama! A snow globe!” I didn’t even know he knew what a snow globe was! (Thinking later, we have a small snow globe ornament on the tree.)
And a still! Only in North Carolina, eh?
I missed shots of the live action scenes because they were behind me and we weren’t supposed to take video—but the action was following along to the song. Of course I don’t remember the song, so Googling led me to “A Soldier’s King” by Kenny Rogers:
No one seemed to notice the man beside the road
He was just a ragged soldier out there in the cold
But he seemed to have a purpose only known to him
As he walked along the streets that night through the town of Bethlehem.In his head he held a memory of all the wars he’d known
In his hand he clutched a medal for the bravery he’d shown
And the weight of every battle he caried in his heart
But his eyes were clear and searching for a manger in the dark.
As we approached, you saw a guy in cammies start walking in front of us—as if we were following him, just like the song was singing. And then he stopped at the manger and we stopped to watch the scene play out (which was really just listening to the song). I’m an emotional sap—and even moreso at Christmas and even moreso with Tom gone—so I wasn’t really paying close attention and was trying to block out the song so I didn’t lose it completely.
Then we moved on and towards the very end, it was some other jazzy Christmas song where it was talking about snow (heck, it might even have been “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!” for all I remember) and it started snowing! They stopped the tractor and just let us sit in it for a minute. Owen was thrilled!
And if I wasn’t already emotional enough, they ended with “God Bless the USA.”
And 30 minutes later—almost on the dot—we were back! I asked if Owen liked it and he did—and he said “Thanks, mama, for bringing me!” 🙂 I told him I liked doing special things with him and he said “I love doing things with you, too!”
So it was a great night!
Putting the stray pieces BACK in the bowl. 🙂
Owen: Mom, do you want to hear a joke?
Me: Of course!
Owen: Why did the chicken go in your mouth? To get to the mouthwash!
He’s apparently a “use your surroundings” comic as there was a bottle of mouthwash on the table. 🙂
She didn’t nap long today so I got her in a cuddly mood. For about five minutes.
Taking care of Maggie…he lets her out of her crate, then lets her outside and back in, then gives her a treat.
So a few days ago, this rash erupted on Katie.
Freaked me out, of course. I assumed it was just some random kid thing so gave her Benedryl…and emailed my sister who knows all things dermatological. She asked if Katie had been sick recently… Why, yes, she had been. She guessed it wasn’t anything to worry about and to just keep an eye on it. Luckily it didn’t appear to be terribly itchy (I caught Katie rubbing around her neck once but that was about it.)
The next morning, the torso rash was just about gone but there were new spots on her arms and legs. Freaky. Another day (this morning) and it’s all about gone.
Phew.
I hate the little white 3M tabs, but I gave up on the suction cups this year because they never stay stuck (we tried putting them up last night and half fell down before Owen went to bed).
Owen hopes Santa will like these!
I let Owen hang the stitched ornaments tonight. They all went in about a 1′ x 2′ square section. 🙂
Carrying her spoon and bucket. 🙂
Me: Katie, you need to put that ornament back on the tree.
Owen: Yeah! Or Santa won’t be happy!
On the way to school:
Owen: Mama look! We’re holding hands!
Me: Awww! That’s so sweet!
Owen: Yeah, I love Katie.
A minute or so later:
Owen: I’m done holding her hand. My arm is tired.
On the way home from school, we were trying to think of G things Owen could take for Show & Tell this week.
Me: You could take garbage.
Owen: Nooo! That’s stinky.
Me: You could take our garage.
Owen: Moooom! That’s too heavy.
Me: You could take Gramma.
Owen: Which one?
Me: Gramma Jean.
Owen: No, she’s not here. [As if the other ones might have been?!]
A Gingerbread Man and the letter G in marshmallows and Froot Loops.
I got out the bag of stitched ornaments that my Grandma Smith made (and got passed down to me after she died). I figured Katie couldn’t really hurt them…and she LOVED them. Getting them out of the bag, putting them back…tongue out the whole time, working hard.
I honestly wasn’t surprised at most of the stuff she told me—we know he’s a smart kid.
He knows all his colors and shapes. He apparently didn’t know what a rhombus was—but I think that’s okay for Pre-K. 🙂 (But in his favor, he does know what a trapezoid is from one of his games but they didn’t ask that.)
She was very impressed that he knows all his uppercase and most of his lowercase letters. I said he knows ALL of his lowercase letters (and has known them for almost two years) but he often gets sidetracked when questioned. She agreed—she says she’s seen it, too. So she’s going to start working with him more on sounds (which they’ve already started). I told her he can say the alphabet backwards—and she really didn’t believe me. He got to about T then fizzled out because he was playing with Katie. But she was impressed. 🙂
She said he can count and recognize numbers to 13—and again I said he knows to at least 20 and he likely lost interest or got sidetracked. She agreed, as she’s seen him recognize other numbers. I told her he can count by tens to 100 and asked him to do it, but of course he wasn’t in the mood so he didn’t get very far.
He can write his first name so they’re going to start on the spelling of his last name. But they are also going to work more on him writing his name a consistent size. I said “OH YES! At home, he will write a huge O, then a tiny W halfway across the page, then a teeny E, and a sketchy N.” 🙂
She said his fine motor skills have definitely gotten better. He can now walk along the balance-beam-type-rail they have on the playground instead of falling off and he can jump from one spot to another (I haven’t been on the playground to see what spots she’s talking about). He can’t skip, but she said not many of them can.
He does well with verbalization—his speech is getting a lot better (she says she can understand just about everything) and he can express his emotions well. “Owen shows great language, social-emotional, and cognitive development. He’s able to express his feelings and use his words to explain himself.”
So, overall a very good report!!